Reckless driving with children on board

In two separate incidents over the weekend, ACT Policing issued Traffic Infringement Notices to two drivers caught driving recklessly with children on board their vehicles.

About 11.50am on Sunday (May 4), Road Safety Operations Team officers identified a 59-year-old male riding on a motorcycle with an 18-month-old girl sitting on his lap on Ratcliffe Crescent in Florey. The male was unlicensed and the motorcycle was unregistered motorcycle. The male was only wearing a bicycle helmet for protection. The male was identified as the young child’s grandfather. The driver was issued with several Traffic Infringement Notices and received fines totalling almost $1,200.

About 3.30pm the same day, City Patrol members identified a 33-year-old female driving a station wagon on Cooyong Street in Reid with three unrestrained children in the boot of the wagon. The children were aged between three and seven years old. The driver was issued with several Traffic Infringement Notices and received fines totalling over $900 and nine demerit points.

ACT Policing Traffic Operations Station Sergeant Rod Anderson said the behavior of both drivers put their child passengers in harm’s way.

“There is no safe way to restrain an 18-month-old child on a motorcycle and there is no safe way for a child to ride in the boot of a car. In both instances police intervened immediately to protect the young children involved,” Sergeant Anderson said.

“Children are our most vulnerable road users; it’s the responsibility of the driver to ensure that children are property restrained during any trip, even if it’s a short distance. If either of those vehicles had been in a collision the results could have been devastating.”